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The Lost Island
Whoever can discover the lost island will find a reward and great secrets
204 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
About the author
Eilís Dillon
53 books40 followersEilís Dillon (1920-1994) was born in Galway, in the West of Ireland. Her father, Thomas Dillon, was Professor of Chemistry at University College Galway. Her mother, Geraldine Plunkett, was the sister of the poet Joseph Mary Plunkett, one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, who was executed in Kilmainham Gaol at the end of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Eilís was educated at the Ursuline Convent in Sligo, and was sent to work in the hotel and catering business in Dublin. In 1940, at the age of 20, she married a 37-year-old Corkman. Her husband, Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin, became Professor of Irish at University College Cork. Eilís had always written poetry and stories, and in the intervals of bringing up three children and running a student hostel for the university, she developed her writing into a highly successful professional career. At first she wrote children's books in Irish and English, then started to write novels and detective stories. Over twenty of her books were published by Faber and Faber, winning critical acclaim and a wide readership. Her work was translated into fourteen languages.
In the 1960s, her husband's poor health prompted early retirement and a move to Rome. He died in 1970. Eilís Dillon's large historical novel about the road to Irish independence in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Across the Bitter Sea, was published in 1973 by Hodder & Stoughton in London, and Simon & Schuster in New York. It became an instant bestseller.
In 1974 Eilís married Vivian Mercier, Professor of English in the University of Colorado at Boulder. They moved to California when Vivian was appointed to a chair in the University of California, Santa Barbara. They spent each winter in California until Vivian's retirement in 1987, returning to Ireland for the spring and summer.
Eilís Dillon was active in a number of public and cultural bodies. She served on the Arts Council, the International Commission for English in the Liturgy, the Irish Writers' Union and the Irish Writers' Centre. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a member of Aosdána, the State academy of writers, artists and composers. She had long argued for the establishment of such a body.
Vivian's death in 1989 was followed by the death in 1990 of Eilís's daughter Máire, who was a violinist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Despite these blows, and her own declining health, Eilís kept writing until the last months of her own life. An honorary doctorate was conferred on her by University College Cork in 1992. Her last two published works were Children of Bach (1993), a children's novel set in Hungary at the time of the Holocaust, and her edition of Vivian Mercier's posthumous Modern Irish Literature: Sources and Founders (Oxford, 1994). Her scholarly work on this book meant that her own last novel remained unfinished.
Eilís Dillon died on 19 July 1994. Of her fifty books, ten are now in print and others will shortly be republished. A special prize, the Eilís Dillon Award, is given each year as part of the Bisto Book Awards. She herself had won the main Bisto Book of the Year award in 1989 with The Island of Ghosts.
Eilís was educated at the Ursuline Convent in Sligo, and was sent to work in the hotel and catering business in Dublin. In 1940, at the age of 20, she married a 37-year-old Corkman. Her husband, Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin, became Professor of Irish at University College Cork. Eilís had always written poetry and stories, and in the intervals of bringing up three children and running a student hostel for the university, she developed her writing into a highly successful professional career. At first she wrote children's books in Irish and English, then started to write novels and detective stories. Over twenty of her books were published by Faber and Faber, winning critical acclaim and a wide readership. Her work was translated into fourteen languages.
In the 1960s, her husband's poor health prompted early retirement and a move to Rome. He died in 1970. Eilís Dillon's large historical novel about the road to Irish independence in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Across the Bitter Sea, was published in 1973 by Hodder & Stoughton in London, and Simon & Schuster in New York. It became an instant bestseller.
In 1974 Eilís married Vivian Mercier, Professor of English in the University of Colorado at Boulder. They moved to California when Vivian was appointed to a chair in the University of California, Santa Barbara. They spent each winter in California until Vivian's retirement in 1987, returning to Ireland for the spring and summer.
Eilís Dillon was active in a number of public and cultural bodies. She served on the Arts Council, the International Commission for English in the Liturgy, the Irish Writers' Union and the Irish Writers' Centre. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a member of Aosdána, the State academy of writers, artists and composers. She had long argued for the establishment of such a body.
Vivian's death in 1989 was followed by the death in 1990 of Eilís's daughter Máire, who was a violinist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Despite these blows, and her own declining health, Eilís kept writing until the last months of her own life. An honorary doctorate was conferred on her by University College Cork in 1992. Her last two published works were Children of Bach (1993), a children's novel set in Hungary at the time of the Holocaust, and her edition of Vivian Mercier's posthumous Modern Irish Literature: Sources and Founders (Oxford, 1994). Her scholarly work on this book meant that her own last novel remained unfinished.
Eilís Dillon died on 19 July 1994. Of her fifty books, ten are now in print and others will shortly be republished. A special prize, the Eilís Dillon Award, is given each year as part of the Bisto Book Awards. She herself had won the main Bisto Book of the Year award in 1989 with The Island of Ghosts.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 6, 2022
Younger readers, maybe all readers, are always attracted to stories about islands, especially if no one else knows about them. Here, the island is a legendary “lost” island, off Ireland, which only a few can find. That means someone will be searching for that island for good and someone will be searching for that island for evil, in a very Robert Louis Stevenson adventure.
Taking place in the 1950s, the hero of the story is young Michael, a rural lad who helps his mother keep the family farm going, as his father has been missing since he went in search of Inishmanann, the Lost Island. Michael believes that somehow, some way, his father is still alive but as a lad of the earth, he has no way to follow via the sea. But Michael does have a friend who comes from a seafaring tradition, so eventually they begin an adventure on the waves. However, two local adults are also obsessed with the hard-to-find island, because they believe there is buried treasure to be found. Michael and his allies must outwit the bad dudes to be successful, but it may be a very close call.
Although Michael is fourteen years old, I would place this book in the Middle Grade genre, as it’s a quicker read than most teen books and it really falls into the adventure style most boys admire. In the 1950s, boys had so much more freedom than they do now, so if the reader can get past any hesitation of children going on the ocean without parental guidance, the result will be a rip-roaring ride that never stops.
I certainly enjoyed it, especially the idea of an island that only a few have seen and only a few can find. This isn’t the real-life island of Inishmaan, off Galway, but one that has lived in legend. The characters are average kids, so I also thought that was wonderful. I have grown tired of stories about children who believe they are special, just because their overbearing parents told them they were. Not here. It’s quite the fun book and a good choice for young boys who want an adventure on the sea.
Book Season = Spring (expected breezes)
Taking place in the 1950s, the hero of the story is young Michael, a rural lad who helps his mother keep the family farm going, as his father has been missing since he went in search of Inishmanann, the Lost Island. Michael believes that somehow, some way, his father is still alive but as a lad of the earth, he has no way to follow via the sea. But Michael does have a friend who comes from a seafaring tradition, so eventually they begin an adventure on the waves. However, two local adults are also obsessed with the hard-to-find island, because they believe there is buried treasure to be found. Michael and his allies must outwit the bad dudes to be successful, but it may be a very close call.
Although Michael is fourteen years old, I would place this book in the Middle Grade genre, as it’s a quicker read than most teen books and it really falls into the adventure style most boys admire. In the 1950s, boys had so much more freedom than they do now, so if the reader can get past any hesitation of children going on the ocean without parental guidance, the result will be a rip-roaring ride that never stops.
I certainly enjoyed it, especially the idea of an island that only a few have seen and only a few can find. This isn’t the real-life island of Inishmaan, off Galway, but one that has lived in legend. The characters are average kids, so I also thought that was wonderful. I have grown tired of stories about children who believe they are special, just because their overbearing parents told them they were. Not here. It’s quite the fun book and a good choice for young boys who want an adventure on the sea.
Book Season = Spring (expected breezes)
August 11, 2026
I’m not sure where I heard of this book or how I came across it (if it was you, thank you!), but I’m so glad I did. It’s quite the story!
Well written by the “Laura Ingalls Wilder of Ireland” comes this tale of a fourteen year old boy who has been running the family farm ever since his father was lost at sea. Or they have assumed he’s been lost all these years! But when a sly traveler comes to tell them about their long lost husband/father making it to some unknown island and beckoning his son to follow, dare they believe it to be true?
Entertaining through and through!
Ages: 10 +
Content Considerations: mentions drinking alcohol several times. Mentions someone cursing under their breath. People dance.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide Content Considerations, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
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Well written by the “Laura Ingalls Wilder of Ireland” comes this tale of a fourteen year old boy who has been running the family farm ever since his father was lost at sea. Or they have assumed he’s been lost all these years! But when a sly traveler comes to tell them about their long lost husband/father making it to some unknown island and beckoning his son to follow, dare they believe it to be true?
Entertaining through and through!
Ages: 10 +
Content Considerations: mentions drinking alcohol several times. Mentions someone cursing under their breath. People dance.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide Content Considerations, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
If you’re considering a book or looking for a new title to read, check out my highly categorized shelves, read my reviews and Friend or Follow me to spiff up your feed with clean, wholesome, living books.
I have an Instagram account that’s pretty bookishly unique too!
January 18, 2017
I thought this book would be more like Treasure Island, but actually, it felt a little more like Swallows and Amazons, with some bad guys added for general excitement! It was written in the 1950s by an author who previously mostly wrote in Irish and her style is clean and simple, but she's great at setting the scene and building characters with a few swift strokes. The story takes place in a small, struggling fishing village on the Atlantic coast of Ireland and involves a couple of kids taking to the sea to try to find one's dad, who disappeared while trying to find a "hidden" island. Very much a page-turner! Logan liked it almost as much as he liked Treasure Island and Swallows and Amazons. Apparently, Dillon wrote 30 books for children. This was has been out of print for decades and republished by the New York Review of Books. I'm hoping to find the other NYRB republication of hers, The Island of the Horses, although the plot lines sound rather similar. In fact, many of her books seem to be about mysterious islands!
January 5, 2011
Another rip-roaring adventure (a la Robert Louis Stevenson) by Eilis Dillon that takes place on the Irish sea coast perhaps 100 years ago. Ms. Dillon both writes non-stop action (kidnapping! smuggling! theft!) geared toward boys but also preserves old Irish history and legend. She really makes one feel as if they were there and as if they now understand sailing and Irish village life.
September 9, 2016
A deeply enthralling children's adventure set on and off the Galway coast. A missing father, legendary treasure, hard-bitten rogues, danger on land and on sea, all told with realism and romance, written with beautiful clarity and perfectly-crafted prose, a vivid portrayal of Irish rural life and coastal and village fishing communities and lovely illustrations by Richard Kennedy. Some of the story-telling conventions creak a bit, but the writing raises this book several levels, this is surely a classic of children's literature.
June 6, 2012
An exciting adventure story about the small islands off the coast of Ireland. Very well-written and a fun read. NYRB Children's Collection.
February 20, 2026
This Irish adventure from the 1950s is what I consider a cozy read. While reading this fast-paced tale of a father who went missing while in search of a mysterious lost island that may or not contain treasure, the two boys who set out to find him, and the villains who pursue them, I felt like I was escaping into my childhood. Set in a time over 70 years ago, it's hard to imagine a parent today letting their boy head out to sea with a friend, accompanied only by a strange man that they know nothing about other than his sailing skills. They were definitely different times. If you can get that out of your head (along with one other plot point which I thought rather implausible regarding the mother's promise to the father before he set sail and went missing), then you will probably enjoy this action-packed thriller.
March 22, 2025
An enchanting, Treasure Island like adventure.
January 5, 2018
A great seafaring story - it has a bit of the amateur sailor and pirate aspects that would make it a good successor to Peter Duck.
One oddity - p.177 has dialogue attributed to Joe, Mike, my father, Michael, and I. But there are only four people present (and the first-person narrator has been Michael). Why? Also, we had to have a Mike and a Michael? Were there no other names available in all of Ireland?
One oddity - p.177 has dialogue attributed to Joe, Mike, my father, Michael, and I. But there are only four people present (and the first-person narrator has been Michael). Why? Also, we had to have a Mike and a Michael? Were there no other names available in all of Ireland?
August 28, 2019
Oh yeah! This was great fun! I would have loved it when I was 10 and I loved it now. Clean, fast paced, with just the right amount of rough action. I really loved the independence of the boys and their confident decision making and the cast of character surrounding them that helped them on their journey. A real exercise in triaging threats and staying fast on your feet. Perfect adventure book for quiet evenings.
June 13, 2008
Great tale of a boy who goes to sea to find his father on an island. Kind of Joan Aikenish. Good use of language.
September 3, 2026
The lost island itself is named after the old god of the sea. The treasure everyone discusses and seeks after is his. Prior to opening this book I read many, many reviews that failed to mention this reef of superstition… cautionary reviews mentioned the smoking of pipes and older children taking to the sea without adult supervision, but no one mentioned the repeated legend of this false god and his treasure. To me, a Christian, this is a huge negative and had I known it, I wouldn’t have gotten the book (though it was a library book, so the only investment was in time).
I preread two chapters and, in love with the author’s rich descriptions and lovely choices of wording, I started it over with my daughter as a read-aloud. And then… our cheerful little dingy struck upon the first boulder and I frowned a bit, hoped for the best, and ended for the day. Skimming ahead, I saw that there was no getting away from it. It just keeps coming up again and again - and *spoiler alert* his father even gives credit to the false god when he reveals the treasure at the end of the book (despite the fact that the family earlier kept a bit of a sabbath ritual that hinted at Christian roots)…
This Eilis Dillon seems to be an amazing writer, however, I didn’t care for the prominently pagan storyline. Also, by continuing to mention it, along with the skeptics’ jaunts, the discovery of an actual treasure later only reinforced the legend, and thus the existence of the false god.
DNF though I did skim read the last few chapters.
I hope this review can help other Christian readers.
I preread two chapters and, in love with the author’s rich descriptions and lovely choices of wording, I started it over with my daughter as a read-aloud. And then… our cheerful little dingy struck upon the first boulder and I frowned a bit, hoped for the best, and ended for the day. Skimming ahead, I saw that there was no getting away from it. It just keeps coming up again and again - and *spoiler alert* his father even gives credit to the false god when he reveals the treasure at the end of the book (despite the fact that the family earlier kept a bit of a sabbath ritual that hinted at Christian roots)…
This Eilis Dillon seems to be an amazing writer, however, I didn’t care for the prominently pagan storyline. Also, by continuing to mention it, along with the skeptics’ jaunts, the discovery of an actual treasure later only reinforced the legend, and thus the existence of the false god.
DNF though I did skim read the last few chapters.
I hope this review can help other Christian readers.
November 15, 2020
I re-read this book, stashed away in our family holiday home for 45 years and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. An adventure story set on the Irish coast - the narrator Michael gets news of his father, who vanished after sailing away four years earlier to find a lost island and the treasure rumoured to be on it. Michael teams up with the ward of a local fisherman, Joe and together they
manage to secure a boat and go in search of him. They overcome many challenges and thwart those who are set on snatching the treasure, whatever it may be, for themselves.
manage to secure a boat and go in search of him. They overcome many challenges and thwart those who are set on snatching the treasure, whatever it may be, for themselves.
April 11, 2024
Great children's book full of intrigue, mystery, and of course, treasure! It reminded me of an old fashioned Disney movie or Hardy Boys mystery. I also enjoyed how it was set in Ireland and I would now like to read more books by Eilis Dillon including, the Island of Horses. Plus, these New York Review Children's Books are so beautiful. I want to collect them all!
April 2, 2018
A great adventure yarn. Having visited Ireland and the islands off its coast I was transported back to those rocky shores. Great characters, wonderful sense of place, engaging writing, a real page turner. A great boys book. Not my favorite kind of story, but it really kept my attention.
Want to Read
May 16, 2020LINK+
Read
June 3, 2020a fun high seas adventure, with more lost than island
May 16, 2015
A fun book, though I think that I would have enjoyed it even more if I had brushed up on Irish folklore before reading it. It does contain references specific to the folklore of this region, but the story is still enjoyable for those who don't share this background.
The story follows Michael Farrell's search for his father, who had been missing for four years after setting out for The Lost Island and the treasure it holds. Along the way he and Joe fend off greedy villains, meet a new friend and travel companion (Mike), and brave rough seas on their quest.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I do think of it as a boy's adventure story. The female characters are few and far between. At first I was concerned by the portrayal of Michael's mother, an overly trusting who sometimes seemed younger than Michael. I was relieved later on by a portrayal of a strong woman from Fort Island, owner of a public house, as it provided some balance.
Overall, this is a nice suspenseful sailing adventure. While there are some violent scenes, they are not graphic and they go by quickly.
The story follows Michael Farrell's search for his father, who had been missing for four years after setting out for The Lost Island and the treasure it holds. Along the way he and Joe fend off greedy villains, meet a new friend and travel companion (Mike), and brave rough seas on their quest.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I do think of it as a boy's adventure story. The female characters are few and far between. At first I was concerned by the portrayal of Michael's mother, an overly trusting who sometimes seemed younger than Michael. I was relieved later on by a portrayal of a strong woman from Fort Island, owner of a public house, as it provided some balance.
Overall, this is a nice suspenseful sailing adventure. While there are some violent scenes, they are not graphic and they go by quickly.
Want to Read
June 2, 2010Part of The New York Review Children's Collection.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews